Support undergarment



United States Patent Inventor Louis Wadman 58 Ferncroft Road, Waban, Massachusetts 02168 Appl. No. 746,622

Filed July 22, 1968 Patented Aug. 25, 1970 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,441,022 4/1969 Severson et al 128/159 3,459,181 8/1969 Mann 128/159 Primary Examiner Adele M. Eager Attorney-lmrie, Smiley, Snyder and Butrum ABSTRACT: An undergarment includes a tubular elastic waist band portion. The lower part of the undergarment includes a pair of front panels and a rear panel all of which are secured along the top edges thereof to the bottom edge of the waist band portion. The front panels include fly edges which diverge from one another in a downward direction with a portion of one front panel overlying a portion of the other front panel. The bottom edges of each of the front panels are joined with the bottom edge of the rear panel, and the front and rear panels are joined along seam edges thereof. The front panels and the rear panel cooperate to define curved leg edges to define a pair of leg holes.

Patented Aug. 25, 1910 3,525,336

INV ENT OR LOUIS WADMAN ATTORNEYS SUPPORT UNDERGARMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a support undergarment,

and more particularly to a mans undergarment such as shorts.

Conventional shorts or briefs as commonly worn by men do not provide adequate support for the abdominal region of the wearer. Accordingly, support undergarments have been particularly designed so as to provide the desired support for the wearers abdominal regions, but this type of undergarment is generally uncomfortable to the wearer.

Support undergarments heretofore employed have utilized elastic in the lower or pouch portion of the undergarment in order to provide the desired degree of support. This is undesirable since the elastic utilized in such undergarments deteriorates in time, and the deterioration of the elastic also adversely affects the adjacent fabric portions of the undergarment.

It is also desirable to provide a double thickness of fabric in the forward part of the pouch area so as to provide greater absorbancy. In the usual shorts of this type, the fly arrangement is inconvenient, and access to the pouch of the undergarment is difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, the support undergarment includes a tubular elastic waist band portion which provides good support to the abdominal region of the wearer. At the same time, the lower part or pouch portion of the undergarment is of such a construction so as to provide maximum comfort to the wearer. No elastic portions are employed in the lower part of the undergarment, and accordingly the problem of deterioration of elastic as has been encountered in the prior art is completely eliminated. Additionally, no piping is required, thereby providing a more comfortable undergarment.

A pair of front panels and a rear panel form the lower part or pouch portion of the undergarment, the front panels including fly edges which diverge from one another in a downward direction. The arrangement is such that a double thickness of fabric is provided in the forward part of the pouch portion of the undergarment, and the front panels are so arranged that the fly of the undergarment is convenient and provides ready accessibility to the interior of the pouch portion of the undergarment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of a support undergarment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded view illustrating the various portions of the undergarment laid out flat prior to to being sewed to one another to provide the finished undergarment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the undergarment of the present invention includes a waist band portion indicated generally by reference numeral and forming the upper part of the undergarment. The lower or pouch portion of the undergarment includes a pair offront panels 12 and 14 and a rear panel 16.

Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawings, the waist band portion 10 is formed of an elastic material such as Lycra or the like and includes an upper edge 20. An additional elastic strip 22 is secured to the inner surface of the waist band portion 10 by two lines of stitching 24, this additional strip of elastic material insuring that the uppermost portion of the undergarment incorporates sufficient elasticity to maintain the undergarment in place on a wearer.

LII

The waist band portion may either be formed as a single tubular member, or it may be formed of two separate pieces joined together along side seams 26 and 28 as indicated in FIG. I of the drawings. The lower edge of the waist band portion is indicated by reference numeral 30 in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

As seen in FIG. 3, each of front panels 12 and 14 may be formed of a suitable knit fabric such as cotton jersey or the like. Front panel 12 includes a top edge 34 and a bottom edge 36, these top and bottom edges being disposed generally parallel with one another. One end of each of the top and bottom edges are joined by a sloping relatively straight fly edge 38. A curved leg edge extends upwardly from the bottom edge 36, and a seam edge 42 extends between the top edge 34 and the leg edge 40.

Panel 14 is a substantial mirror image of panel 12 and includes a top edge and a bottom edge 52 disposed substantially parallel with top edge 50. A relatively straight sloping fly edge 54 joins one end of the top and bottom edges. A curved leg edge 56 extends upwardly from the bottom edge 52, and a seam edge 58 extends between the top edge 50 and the leg edge 56.

The rear panel 16 may be formed of a material similar to that of the front panels and includes a top edge 60 and a bottom edge 62 disposed substantially parallel with the top edge. A pair of curved leg edges 64 and 66 extend upwardly from the bottom edge 62, and a pair of seam edges 68 and 70 extend between the top edge 60 and the leg edges 64 and 66 respectively.

The top edge 60 of the rear panel 16 is sewn to the bottom edge 30 of the waist band portion at the rear of the undergarment to provide a seam therebetween. The top edge 34 of front panel 12 is sewn to the bottom edge 30 of the waist band portion to provide the seam portion as shown in FIG. 1. In a like manner, the top edge 50 of front panel 14 is sewn to the bottom edge 30 of the waist band portion to provide the seam portion 82 indicated in FIG. 1.

The seam edge 42 of front panel 12 is sewn to the seam edge 68 of the rear panel to provide the side seam 84 indicated in FIG. 1. In a like manner, the seam edge 58 of front panel 14 is sewn to the seam edge 70 of the rear panel to provide the side 3 seam 86 indicated in FIG. 1. The side seams 84 and 86 are aligned with the previously described side seams 26 and 28.

The bottom edges 36 and 52 of the front panels 12 and 14 are each sewn to the bottom edge 62 of the rear panel to provide the seam 90 indicated in FIG. 1. It is apparent that the curved leg seams of the front and rear panels cooperate in the finished undergarment to provide a pair of leg holes indicated generally by reference numerals 92 and 94 in FIG. 1. In the finished undergarment, the curved leg hole edges are turned over and sewn to form a hem in the usual manner.

The fly edges 38 and 54 in the finished undergarment are turned over and sewn to provide the hems indicated generally by reference numerals and 102 in FIGS. 1 and 2. As seen most clearly in FIG. 2, reinforcing fabric strips 104 and 106 are provided in the finished hems 100 and 102 respectively to reinforce these hems which form the fly of the completed undergarment.

As seen in FIG. 1, the fly edges of the front panels terminate closely adjacent one another where these panels are joined with the waist band portion at a point indicated by reference numeral 110. The fly edges diverge from one another in a downward direction so as to define an inverted V-shape configuration. Accordingly, in the finished undergarment, a triangular area indicated by reference numeral 112 and defined by the hems 100, 102 and seam 90 provides an area of double thickness of fabric to increase the absorbancy of this forward part of the pouch portion of the undergarment. The undergarment of the present invention is adapted to be made of any desired fabric, and the examples given herein are for the purpose of illustration only and are not to be considered to be limiting.

As this invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof,

the present embodiment is therefore illustrative and not restrictive, and since the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims, all changes that fall within the metes and bounds of the claims or that form their functional as well as conjointly cooperative equivalents are therefore intended to be embraced by those claims.

lclaim:

l. A support undergarment including a tubular waist band portion having a top edge and a bottom edge, the bottom part of said support garment comprising a pair of front panels and a rear panel, each of said front panels including a top edge and a bottom edge, the top edges of each of said front panels being joined to said bottom edge of the waist band portion, one of said front panels being disposed in overlying relationship to the other of said front panels at a portion of the front of the garment, said rear panel including a top edge and a bottom edge, the top edge of said rear panel being joined to said lower edge of the waist band portion, the lower edge of said rear panel being joined with the lower edges of each of said front panels adjacent the crotch of the undergarment.

2. An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein said waist band portion is of an elastic construction to support the abdominal region of the wearer.

3. An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said front and rear panels is formed ofa knit fabric material.

4. An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said front panels includes a fly edge, said fly edges in the completed garment defining an inverted V configuration so that said one front panel overlies said other front panel to a greater extent in the lower portions of the undergarment.

5 An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said front panels includes a relatively straight fly edge, said fly edges diverging from one another in a downward direction in the undergarment.

6. An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said front panels includes a curved leg edge, said rear panel in cluding a pair of curved leg edges, said leg edges on the front and rear panels cooperating to define a pair of leg openings in the finished undergarment.

7. An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said front panels includes a seam edge. said rear panel including a pair of seam edges, the seam edge of each of said front panels being joined with one of the seam edges of said rear panel to provide a pair of side seams at opposite sides of the undergarment.

8. An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein said waist band portion comprises two piecesjoined together at the sides of the undergarment to provide a pair of side seams.

9. An undergarment as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said front panels includes top and bottom edges disposed in substantially parallel relationship with one another, a relatively straight fly edge joining said top and bottom edges, said front panels also including a curved leg edge and a seam edge, said rear panel including substantially parallel top and bottom edges, a pair of curved leg edges at opposite sides thereof, and a pair of seam edges, the seam edges on said front panels and said rear panel being joined with one another to provide a pair of seams at opposite sides of the undergarment.

10. An undergarment as defined in claim 9 wherein the fly edges of said front panels diverge from one another in a downward direction to define an inverted V-shaped configuration so that said one front panel overlies said other front panel to a greater extent in the lower portions of the undergarment. 

